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John Edwards, Catholic Apologist?

Yesterday's strip was about how John Edwards' lack of backbone in the whole blogger fiasco brought me back to when Congress was filled with do-nothing Democrats. Feeble and weak these Democrats were and over and over they allowed the Bush Administration to roll over them and then they apologized for being in the way.

The Vatican has been involved in some pretty nasty things, but its recent positions are still horrid. This is a group that is actively seeking to block women from gaining access to birth control, sanctioning Gay bigotry and is against many of the same agenda items that Edwards claims he is for such as stem cell research, reproductive freedom and equality. So why the fuck did he let a slime ball like Bill Donahue get away with the blogger bashing? This is the same guy who wanted to deny John Kerry Communion due to his voting record on pro-choice legislation. It wasn't like Donahue is analogous to Billy Graham, but more on the side of Oral Roberts.

Yeah, maybe Edwards should have paid closer attention to the bloggers he hired, but it looks like he flat out gave up. Totally caved and left the bloggers to swing.

And I don't believe the whole resignation story either. The bloggers have been a target of religious right for some time. I get a lot of hate mail due to the strip and what I say in the strip doesn't come close to the controversial nature of the bloggers' posts. So this week they have too much heat? Now, all of the sudden they are getting threats? Edwards couldn't offer protection? Help? Assistance? Other than being shown the door, that was it apparently.

So I just don't get Edwards. He had a chance to beat down Donahue's fake rage with four sticks wrapped in barbed wire and he did nothing. Are Democrats still so timid that they can't bring themselves to criticize a group that wants to outlaw condoms?

I don't think I will get an apology from Edwards, but the Vatican got theirs.

I'm sorry, I am still sick of do-nothing Democrats. I have had my fill.

We have to be careful not to criticize Edwards too much in this case, in my opinion. Politicians have to pick and choose their battles. I got irritated with what appeared to be a pander to southern conservatives (with the Southern Baptist gay marriage answer)---a pander that won't work for Edwards any more than Hillary's pander with the flag-burning amendment. And, what was worse about Edwards's gay marriage answer was its duality---in one stroke, he's insulting a core constituency and pandering to one he'll never have!

But on the Catholic tip, he needs to choose his battle more carefully. The Catholic vote, unlike the post-purge Southern Baptist Convention, is not monolithic and can swing elections. It would have been better for Edwards to bitch-slap Donohue than the Catholic Church itself. And, while doing it, he could slip in a few jabs about how Donohue represents the worst of the church---gay-bashing, kiddie-buggering, etc. Either do that, or back away peacefully, which is what he did. But to risk pissing off such a huge bloc that actually does vote both ways---while it may on the surface seem lightweight, deep down, it's smart.

I want to see when we differ with our side.
I hope other Edwards supporters will catch on.

I'm trying to give it time. I agree that pushing back personally might have been difficult to do for Edwards as a candidate. The best way for Edwards to push back was to unleash Amanda and Melissa on Donohoe. Surprise! That's exactly what happened. (I realize not in that way or for that reason, necessarily)

Donohoe's worst nightmare. - two intelligent, vibrant, kick-ass women bird-dogging him. It's going to suck being Bill Donohoe for the next two years.

These two women can do the Edwards campaign more good outside of the formal campaign structure.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

*************************** Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.

Their future roles for (not in) the campaign, can have more of the effect of a 527. In modern elections, those outside of the formal campaign (do I even have to say it---SwiftBoat Vets) do the dirty work that the formal campaign could never accomplish.

I was done with Edwards yesterday but the reaction was insane, so edition two. And this is the first time I have had Edwards in the strip and I need to get back to the Spicy Fish Prophecy - the penguins are just about finished on the wall around Dobson that is designed to keep out the liberals.

Unless Edwards tops this boneheaded thing, I am not going to revisit him anytime soon until it is newsworthy (And please John, do something smart this time, huh?). However, I am going to keep him as Templar John character for him for now.

You've got a little crusade of your own going on, eh? A litmus test of sorts.

You've also accused two of my favorite bloggers of lying to their readers. This is not acceptable to me. Unless you can offer any proof that the bloggers are lying, then I'd like you to retract that baseless opinion. If you can withdraw your unreasonable accusation, then we'll be free to discuss John Edwards campaign tactics all you want.

Otherwise, you're just guttersniping with Donohue, and you'll be off my blogroll at Scrutiny Hooligans.

I take you at your word - that you 'believe' the bloggers are lying. Well that's not good enough for me. I believe that purple monkeys fly out of Michael Jackson's ass at night, but I won't be arguing the veracity of that point anytime soon.

He's entitled to his opinion. There are lots of things we hear each day that don't sound credible. We many not know the truth, but we know what we are being told sounds fishy. I think it's pretty reasonable to have that kind of reaction to this episode.

You may disagree, but I think it's unfair to call Stormbear "offensive."

Sit back and watch. You can go around freaking out about Democratic candidates, but I'd rather see all of us make the candidates court us. Bashing Edwards is your right, of course. However, there are lots of other candidates who are waiting for you to expend that kind of energy positively in their direction.

Edwards will do what Edwards will do. He's not elected, and his actions have no bearing on the government's actions.

I've been trying to stay away from this crap, but have gotten so many emails that I feel compelled to comment.

First, I've pulled this entry off the front page, not because of the strip itself, but because of the growing level of shrillness over who's naming whom a liar. It feels like a whacked out episode of Recess - only we're missing a principal who can make everyone apologize. For what it's worth, I apologize for not calling bullshit all around.

When there is unequivocal and indisputable evidence to support a claim of lying, I'm all for calling a spade a spade. But when it's less clear, when it's a judgment call, and when it's about a person whose life work deserves enormous respect, well, that's more than I can condone.

If I were king, there'd be no front-page entries on presidential politics at BlueNC for the next year unless they have a specific tie in to North Carolina. That includes strips. What do I mean by "tie-in"? Endorsements by NC politicians, campaign visits, specific policy implications for state politics, GOTV around the primary, stuff like that. There are hundreds of places to go to talk and argue about national politics - that's not what BlueNC is for.

But I'm not king. I'm just another guy with an opinion who's worn out and embarrassed by all this.

I like talking about national politics. Even though I've disagreed with lots of folks here and agreed with lots more, I guess I'll go somewhere else.

I had several reasons for coming here---I wanted to learn about state politics (learning usually means more listening than talking---reading instead of posting, in this case). And I also wanted to know what North Carolinians think about national politics, whether it ties in locally, with endorsements, impact,etc-- or not. I think we should still care about things and want to express ourselves about them, whether they have a direct impact on the state or not. And I'm sure you do, too.

We do national politics and fairly often, but we try to keep them off the front page. If you look at the track changes (you probably already do this) you'll see the diaries that aren't on the front page and you can follow the discussions. I like national politics more than state and local too. Please don't leave. You just got here. Give us a little longer to really tick you off.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

*************************** Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.

since the beginning we've saved the front page for state politics for the most part. When a national issue comes up we try to relate it to NC which is easy during an election year when national issues are related to our congressional/senatorial elections. We discuss national politics all the time and do our best to center the conversation on how it impacts/involves North Carolina.

Actually, since I enjoy national politics more and have tried to force myself to see how a certain issue impacts North Carolina, I've learned more about my home state. Funny how that happens.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

*************************** Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I love coming on here every day and reading about the local/state topics you guys are writing about. Maybe someday soon, I'll have something topical for you from Forsyth County/Triad area.

But I'm glad to know that what I most want to talk about, national politics,
isn't verboten here.

I just wanted to make the point that I didn't want to come into somebody else's forum and upset the applecart. You guys obviously take great care in making and keeping this a great place to talk. I think you have a right to decide what acceptable topics are, as long as you're not censoring opinion. I go elsewhere to talk about English premier league and Serie A, so I just wanted to understand that national politics are welcome here.

I already know about places like Daily Kos. What appealed to me about coming here is that I could see what other people in NC feel about things. That's definitely a more intimate community than places like Kos.

I just think people have a right to have a forum and have it the way they want. Lance and Anglico apparently don't want BlueNC to be a forum for people like me.

I don't want to be a nuisance.

Do you think that I'm interpreting their posts correctly?

For the record, I love debating you and others here. I just don't want to be limited, on the subject of national politics (no matter what page it's displayed on), to things that have a bona fide direct tie-in to NC.

I want to trade licks (and pats on the back, as on your recent Ezra Healthcare post) without having to worry about whether it impacts folks directly in Forsyth County or NC.

It may be ignored if its off-topic, or it may be rebutted if it's ridiculous or offensive.

There's no rules for comments or submissions other than the standard, don't be a complete asshole stuff. Each blog forms its own culture. You don't have to conform to that culture. No one will make you. You just may not get the response you'd hoped for.

But Internazionale, this seems to be about the paragraph that begins "If I were king", and I don't read that at all to mean that anyone should leave. A was talking about the front page, and I think he's right for a few reasons: (1) there are plenty of blogs who cover national politics better than we do or can; (2) there are few who can cover NC politics as well as we can and do; and (3) a lot of folks come here specifically for NC news and analysis (while I can't imagine many wake up in the morning dying to know what BlueNCers think about Charles Schumer's ideas about amending Sarbanes-Oxley, for example).

Like Anglico, I'm not the boss of BlueNC. This is just my vision of BlueNC at its best. I have written on national stuff too, I just generally keep it off the front page. Think of it as BYOB at a restaurant without a liquor license: you can bring it in and enjoy it at your table, but we're not selling it. And the same can be said for cars, music, movies, etc. -- nobody is restricted from covering any topic here. But like A (and for what it's worth), I don't really feel like the front page is the place.

I hope that helps to clear things up. If we're asking anything of you, it's simply that you not get too upset when you write on national politics (or cars or whatever) and don't find that it's getting admin-promoted.

Stormbear presents a dilemma (second time I've used that word this week regarding BlueNC). I don't always like or agree with the actual strip but I like the style, the thought process and often the content. I like having it on the site and I usually vote it up on MyDD.

I often don't agree with the narrative, especially when it does not relate well to the strip. As far as expression is concerned the strip should stand on its own. The narrative always complicates it and and makes it hard to know how to engage. If the strip needs the narrative then the strip is weak. If the narrative can stand on its own it should be a separate post.

I may write about this on a longer post. Stormbear is obviously smart and skilled but chaining the narrative to his strip is daring people to attack both his work and himself personally. It's "suicide by blog". I know his work means a lot to him. He shouldn't undermine this way, though he is free to do so.

I started doing the commentary because other blogs have a box for it and I can't post without putting something in the body text box. Dkos gives me a very nasty note on "unsubstantive diaries." The comic community there is trying to work with Kos to allow comics to be posted without narrative. I think we are making progress.

So my process got automated to just paste everything uniformly and I hate very bit of it.

You may want to pull this quote, which is written below a page-width banner exlaiming "THIS STRIP WAS BANNED AT BLUENC!", from the top of your blog:

"NOTE: I was invited to post Town Called Dobson on BlueNC.com after I finished blogging for Roger Sharpe. Now, without warning or reason, today’s strip was banned from the site. I am beginning to feel like I just finished working for the Edwards campaign. Ya know?"

if you clicked on the down arrow at the end of each blog entry, where it says:

Moderate Post:
Recommend to Front Page
Your vote contributes to whether or not this post appears on the home page.

an alternative would drop down letting you vote to "dump" that post. You would never see that option unless you clicked on the down arrow, but it was there for anyone to use. I always thought it was a vote against front-paging the post. Live and learn.

:P If you weren't seeing it before, it was probably a browser problem, or that you were viewing pages while you were logged out, or that you just didn't notice it (it was in a drop-down box, after all, and only the default "Recommend this post..." was showing). But all authenticated (signed-in) users had permission to dump.

Hi folks. I publish AlternativeApproaches.com, where we also run Storm's strip "Town Called Dobson." As you might guess, we've been watching the action here, and over at the Daily KOS, with some bemused interest.

In fact, my blog for today concerns this issue. Please don't be offended by the blog's slug - it's just a pun. Besides, we all know that in North Carolina, purple is about as close to blue as we can come:-)

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